Charlie Schouten

Trafford Council has held a fresh consultation into Sale Moor’s Warrener Street car park, a site long mooted for development. Place North West attended the consultation event to find out the next steps for the area.

The site in the centre of Sale Moor village was first earmarked for redevelopment in late 2015 when a 17,400 sq ft Aldi superstore was proposed by Kirkland Developments; this was granted planning permission the following year. However, this approach was rejected by then-leader of Trafford Council, Cllr Sean Anstee, based on feedback from community groups.

Instead, the council agreed to bring forward a mixed-use project on the site, including a health centre, 16 homes split between apartments and semi-detached houses, and improved parking facilities. This was approved at a meeting of the council’s executive in June last year following a public consultation.

Now, a fresh consultation on the site has been held by council officers, with the council gauging public views at an event on 6 December, held at Sale High School. This was attended by more than 30 local residents.

The approach from the council has been to sound out residents’ views with no firm options on the table: forms distributed at the event asked attendees to rank their preferences for the site based on what they would like to see, whether that be mixed-use, residential, retail, or ultimately leaving it as car parking.

Some of the suggestions put forward by residents at the consultation

The site is complicated by the refusal of two neighbouring landowners to sell: these are the car wash site and a private house and garden to the rear, which are understood to have quoted prices well above market value if they are to sell. This restricts the council to only being able to develop a smaller plot which currently houses the car park.

Doing nothing and leaving the site as a car park is a very real possibility, with the council potentially waiting until the neighbouring land might come available to offer an expanded development opportunity.

Residents in attendance put forward a number of different options that they would like to see; one of these was a circa 5,000 sq ft Co-operative or similar store on the plot bordering the car wash and where Marsland Road joins to Northenden Road. The village currently has no ‘chain’ mini-supermarket, although there is a Tesco Express on Norris Road and a One Stop in Sale Moor.

Other key issues raised around the site is the road access, which would have to be via Warrener Street. The road layout in the village has been heavily criticised with the one-way system often leading to congestion; options that could be put forward include more shared space, similar to how vehicles and pedestrians interact in town centres such as Poynton.

Following the consultation, Trafford Council is likely to draw up a development brief to sound out potential partners and to source ideas for the site.

Returning to the health centre proposals appears to be unlikely given a lack of appetite from Trafford CCG, which has recently been stung by its failure to secure tenants at Altrincham Wellbeing Centre, an 80,000 sq ft scheme which remains largely empty months after opening.

Meanwhile use – like using the site to host food markets and events – could be an option while the council considers what to do with the site, but Warrener Street remaining as a car park is also a distinct possibility. To the rear, residents also suggested the introduction of some community green space, although most of this land is still in private ownership.

A timeline on when a decision will be made on the site has not yet been set by the council.

Your Comments

I applaud the idea of what looks on the face of it to be genuine consultation by Trafford Council.

But the event was absolutely pitifully advertised and organised and the cynic in me thinks this was tactical.
I only found out about it thanks to the previous PNW article (thank you) as I subscribe to the updates.

I am a local resident, less than 100 meters away. No letter drop, no notices on the site (e.g on the car park T&C boards), or nearby lamp posts. Not sure if shops were notified? I don’t even think it was in any local newspaper? None of my neighbours new about the event.
No sizeable notice even outside the event venue – a venue that wasn’t well lit or seemingly open to any passers by.

It was effectively meaningless as consultation event. Judge against the level of interest and numbers who got involved with previous interests in the site.

The advertisement of, and the consultation wouldn’t meet the required public consultation standard if a private developer were applying for permission.

I suggest it is re-run, with more than one session at different times of day, and with proper advertising.
Those in attendance representing the council couldn’t tell me what they were going to do with the comments or what status the council now put on the site as an ‘asset’. I asked if the council need to generate any income from the site and no clear answer was given. They unhelpfully presented very little knowledge and the status of the site or the future purpose of the (few) responses they were managing to gather.

I wasn’t given a form (as reported as available), nor was my attention drawn to there being a form, for ranking preferences for the site.
I was only invited to write on the OS plans, or post it notes, I did manage to get a very general email address to send in my views.

My preference is for a slightly smaller carpark. remove say 8 spaces by the village/bus stop end and remove the wall and grass towards the bus stop. Then use this to make a new hard landscaped area from the roadside into the carpark with a few benches, shrubs, (bins), a bay for an ice cream/hot food van (council licence earner) with importantly a multipurpose paved open central space that could be used for :
– a few market stalls/mini fair/event space, a Christmas tree, or space for placing a temporary stage for events facing the car park, where such larger events could also occupy on special occasion.
Integrate some lighting and potential for power and…voila a really complimentary asset/focal point to the village.
Push the boat out further and make it a mini ‘hard park’, well lit, safely overlooked and all-seasonally accessible – put in a concrete tennis table, chess table and some outdoor gym equipment, etc the later of which could even be used by people whilst they wait for the bus.

I was left frustrated by the dis-organisation which I shalln’t bore you any more with.

deh trafford,
I completely disgree with you deh trafford. Please tell me some examples of the notice?
Put ” “Warrener Street” consultation” in google and it is all old references apart from recent PNW.
Yes, sorry it was a long lunch time rant, but I was told the council record the comments made on here as part of the consultation.

I’ve stopped using the centre so much now popping in incurs a parking fee. This is sad, because Sale Moor needs a free car park there to encourage use of the little high street.
I’ve also use that car wash since it was first there.
Go on, repeat the greedy parking disaster of Altrincham.